Guys I cannot express how much weighted dips help. At the beginning of December I could bench 225 for 4 reps and I didn’t bench press at all until mid January and I hit 225 for 8 reps. During that period my body weight stayed the exact same and the only pressing movement I did for chest was weighted push ups and dips. Absolutely insane I recommend
Everybody is different. For me, dips didnt help out at all. Just going from bench press From 2 times a week to 1 Time a week with one set being 6 Sets and one between 12-15 reps
@@turo302 I didn’t believe those people but then the gyms closed for a month and it was my only option and man did it pay off. Was legit plateaued at 4 reps for a year and then doubled my reps in a month out of no where
I had open heart surgery which required my sternum to be cut in half. I've had trouble with bench press due to this but lately I've been using a machine and increasing the weight by pretty big sums with little issue. I am definitely seeing gains, so my philosophy right now is push ups followed by bench press machine at a heavy weight. It's amazing how fast my muscles are growing from this combination.
The numbers you chat are crazy man, very impressive. I see huge guys at the gym struggling to hit 180 pounds for 10 reps incline in the gym with good form. 225 is very rare.
I think Alex is an outlier phenom when it comes to natural strength. No one is putting up these numbers in commercial gyms or even on youtube. His poundages (& for reps) rival those of top powerlifters. 225 lbs OHP at 165 lbs 5'5?? come on..no one does that. And just as you observed - the aesthetic / juicy guys in the gym are FAR OFF from alex's strength standard. In fact for an average height/weight guy - getting 225x5 or ramping up top triples of 245-255 then back off sets of even 185 lbs [done with various volume or cluster/rest pause] is MORE than enough to get massive pecs and aesthetics. I just don't see how he comes up with these strength standard #'s sometimes...love the guy but his #'s sre literally beyond elite. Nippard can't hit them. Natural hypetrophy can't. bald omni man [who is on trt] hardly..etc..much less any natural (or even enhanced) in commercial gyms. really don't see where ge gets these strength standards...
Even 225 for 3x10 is extremely difficult. A lot of people can rep 225 for 10…then 7…then 4-5 on the last set. The only people in my gym that hit it for all sets are the muscle monsters whose natty status is questionable.
i tryed today 175 after one month of only dungbell work and i did only one negative , dropped the weights side to side and the whole gym staring at meXD
Paused reps were a game changer for me. Bench was a big weak point of mine. However, after adding in paused benching a few years ago, my bench press, and my chest, have gone from strength to strength. I do 5/3/1, but in a pyramid fashion for bench, I simple do paused reps on my 2 deramping sets.
@@TheAbear53 I most often stick to 3 seconds. If I'm at the lighter end of my training block I'll up it to 5 seconds, and on rare occasions even 7 seconds, but I'm not convinced such long pauses are necessary.
My chest was very lacking so I widened my grip, did some push ups here and there, a little incline dumbbell work, and my pec grew like crazy in my 7 weeks of running 5/3/1
Same, wider grip and bringing the bar little higher on my chest works wonders! Only started doing that recently few weeks back and already noticing some gains. Chest has always been lacking for me.
I think RUclips has definitely changed what I consider a strong lifter, these days you see people in their teens benching 160kg at a bodyweight of like 90kg. I have trained for the last 3 years to hit my most recent pr, its only when I come to your channel that I get an idea of what can be done naturally after years and years of hard work and dedication, thankyou for your channel, its helped me ALOT
Most people that are on gear will never admit it and from someone who hasn't trained for a long period if time won't be able to tell what's actually achievable.
When I began pausing my ventures back in the late 90s, my progress went through the roof. I attribute this to consistency in form. At that time I did two things I began pausing, I spent more time learning to set up the bench, ID came obsessed with bar path, and I narrowed my grip substantially.. As Louis Simmons said a narrower grip will make your wide grip stronger but your wide grip will not do shit for your narrow grip. A narrow grip bench, also you may not be a strong will get all of your prime movers working together. You learn how to engage your lats, how to really drive with your triceps, and you’ll get a better range of motion in the chest without destroying your shoulders. Doing lots of bench presses with a shoulder width or slightly narrower grip will make your overall upper body much thicker and denser. Wide grip bench presses with flaring elbows does not utilize enough muscle, but in competition many guys widen the grip little bit in order to limit the range of motion. So you should always train with different grips But don’t ever spend a lot of time doing ultra wide grip bench presses with heavy weight. It’s a one-way ticket to an injury and it will not make you very strong if you do it frequently
My man's right. I did a weighted dip specialization phase, got up to 145lbs for 4 at 160 lbs. My chest development was good but with the OHP as my accessory my shoulders far outclassed my chest. Now with a bench phase I'm running it's blowing up my pecs. Bench press is really #1 in this regard.
Amazing. I Hit the 225 bench and started looking for *optimal* excercises instead of keeping on doing what got me the original progress. So much love and respect for the advise and inspiration!
This video 100% supports my current body and my goals for this year. My pressing is comparatively weaker than lower body or upper pull, and my chest and shoulders don't look as developed as my back or legs. As a result, my main strength goal for this year is increasing pressing strength
Weighted dips are one of my favorite movements and I heavily credit them with helping increase both my bench and pec size. No matter my programming at a given time, a weighted dip is gonna be in there. I've found that switching between bars and rings is also a great way to keep things interesting and progressing, since the instability of the rings forces me to cut the weight way back while getting a better stretch, whereas bar dips let me move some more serious weight
It's the king of upper body. It works on your lats too, which is why it focuses centrally less on the chest. That's why you can use more weight on it. Plus you cant k*ll yourself with it by accident (neck).
@@prodbypjay7148 Harder variations will always increase strength for your base movement. So yes, paused reps for any compound movement will give you bigger numbers for your regular reps.
Rep PR’s are the shit. I have a chart on my room, every 5kg jump from 60-130kg, ever. Once a fortnight I’ll run an AMRAP on one I’ve not done in a while and try and beat my last one. Do the same for OHP for 2.5kg’s and Squats + Dead for 10kg’s Also found OHP to be a big chest booster. Big OHP mean stronger shoulders and triceps. Stronger shoulders and triceps mean more strength in the bottom and the middle. Stronger at weak points means bigger weights for same reps. That means more eccentric overload on the reps. OHP specialisation has indirectly grown my chest like crazy.
I'm currently on a self-imposed 30 day chest challenge and on day 11. The video encourages me do more work with the bench press and to include more versions of dumb bell chest exercises. My goal is to increase my upper chest muscles to match with the lower chest muscles which look pretty good. Thanks for sharing---keep them coming!
Glad you mentioned sternum pain. I can bunch 275 (or more I haven't done it in a bit), but I need 70 lbs assistance on dips to do 10 without horrible pain. I've been doing assisted a few times a week and hopefully I can build back up to unassisted and then weighted
I love to see how connected the natty fitness industry is, I was already really extremely happy when I saw Natural Hypertrophy and Bald Omni-Man on your channel, but seeing you reference Matt Vena? I love it
i'm pretty much a novice and i'm training with calinsthenics but i've noticed that since i've incorporated some set of incline push-ups (with a very close grip, almost diamonds) my pecs are looking fuller, and also on the first times that i was doing the exercise i had DOMS like crazy only to the upper chest.
The BEST thing I ever did for my chest was add powerlifting style pauses to the negative of the bench. I realized I was much stronger from quick reps, but this was NOT due to having strong pecs. Once I started pausing, my chest had no choice but to be the most activated muscle
DUDE!! I absolutely LOVE the quality of these videos man! Good content and advice as always!! Any tips for shoulder/long head of the bicep pain while bench pressing? Thank you again bro, never stop making these videos, so so so so helpful!
Love the emphasis on chasing bench strength to get gains man. I've been training for around 5-6 years now - chasing the next bench PR has been amazing for my chest development. Current PR is 375x3 and I can safely say I have some zonkers attached to my front end now 😂 Hoping to hit the 405 soon just like you man!
The bench press has a place in every chest workout (w/ some exceptions), but my personal favorite way to hit the chest is using cables to get a better angle w/ different variations while keeping constant tension better than free weights throughout the ROM. And agree that push-ups are the gold standard to use both as a warmup & as a VERY effective way to make some serious gains either bodyweight or weighted (as appropriate). From a fellow “noble natty” 💪
He already made many videos about it. For back at least total 315 lb pullup (including bw), cheat rows, rack pulls, shrugs…. For biceps he suggests preacher and incline curls for the stretch reflex
Hey man. I've been watching you for quite some time and I know your content it's based on muscle hypertrophy, but do you have any experience in training for posture, and mobility, or how to treat kyphosis or any kind of this stuff? Or does your content may apply to what I said , in any fashion? Anyway, love your content! Keep it up!
Hey bro,So iam 15 years old,and I want to get strong and muscular.Currently doing PPL.Do you think my push day is alright?It's Bench Press>Weighted Dips>OHP>Weighted Deficit Pushups on handles and then some accessories.Will doing Dips after benching affect them? THANKS
If I could do only one movement it would be weighted dips. It suits my anthropometry better than bench, and I agree the weighted stretch is so fkn key 🔑 also why I’m a fan of the weighted deficit push-ups as well, and also do mine on the boxes with feet on bench. Rings do provide e amazing variations too. Another reason I neglect flat benching more than I’d like to actually flat is that I have a great sturdy multi-angle bench but that fkn gap I didn’t think ahead about when I got it as I hadn’t owned a bench of my very own til that point, drives me crazy when flat benching lol, the low incline setting is nice tho and rock solid on it. I’m inclined (no pun 🧐) to agree however that weighted decline push-ups are prolly better overall and are highly underrated just like the flat version. I also tend to use my boxes to do feet elevated weighted pikes for OHP (working on getting my HSPU back in order at the moment), and def less setup time there when doing full body…the nice thing about the weighted cali’s too on the chest work is the full scapular freedom it provides and like you said it’s just so easy to get elbow positioning right, and imho easier to direct tension into the muscles via mind-muscle connection, tho I’m sure this is also tied in with the tighter positioning as well. Great video, has me wanting to barbell bench more tho haha
I think the Spoto press was the game changer for me. Something about stopping a few inches off my chest and pressing without the stop on the chest completely changed the exercise for me. It took the stress off my shoulders and transferred it onto my pecs.
I do not bodybuild or care about growing my chest, but I like learning about all things training. I've stopped doing dips because of the pain in my sternum that came later in my life; I actually didn't realize it was such a common occurrence until this video. I never looked it up, just thought I was getting old. I do hope to get back into my dip game, though. Thank you for the great content.
Alex can you do a video on ramping and how heavy do the warmups have to be to count as straight sets? Geoffrey Verity Schofield says that any weight over 50% of your Rep max should be counted but that seems super low if my bench 5RM is 225 and 115lbs is considering a working set.
God, I love weighted dips so bad man. They are such a great way to put mass on your chest, triceps and upper back. I didn't even start doing them with that intention, but 2 years later and I feel like they've brought out a whole different shape to me.
Personally I'm lower body dominant. I can slack off from legs for a week or two, hit them one session hard and still make gains. I'm 4 months into my 4th return to the gym journey, and my upper body has always, ALWAYS! been slower to grow and gain size and strength. No wonder, I use my legs everyday, my upper body I might lift a piece of toast alone on an off day. And I love leg work outs, All my best lifts are with my legs. Since I started prioritizing push up volume work everyday, minimum 3 sets usually max 6 sprinkled throughout my day anywhere from 3 to 1 RIR, the strength, size and muscle fibre engagement generally has blown up. The goal is not to beast myself on any set, just practice strict form, grease the groove, and activate the muscular/neural pathways. So I feel good for doing it, not bad I'm not stronger yet. Want a bigger chest/arms/biceps/triceps/shoulders? Make the push up and all it's variants your b*tch. Slow controlled, fast, 1 arm, incline, deficit. Say to yourself "Minimum three sets a day to just before failure/1 set to form failure" you WILL blow up. On top of your regular program of course.
Weighted Dips and DB Benching with feet up have been my go to for bench assistance. Can't wait to add the larson press, at about 280lb max right now with a goal of getting to 315lbs by the end of this year.
Hey, I’m somebody who really values and needs to grow my upper chest. I’d like to focus on progressively overloading my incline bench press at the beginning of every push session, and my secondary presses will be ones that hit my mid and lower pecs such as dips etc. Do you think this makes sense and is a smart way to get a large upper chest while still making some gains on the rest of the chest?
Wait so I should be doing 3x10 flat bench, 3x10 low incline, 3x10 dips/ deficit stretch motion, and 3x10 fly motion? 12 sets at 2x a week I think 24 sets per week is approaching max recoverable volume but not too bad while bulking and giving 72 hours recovery in between chest sessions.
When I started lifting awhile ago my chest was just rib cage and asymmetrical at that. Got up to maybe top single of 215lbs but then I switched to a wide grip dropped me way down to like 135 touch and go. Everything I train usually I can tell I had a good workout but chest is always like meh. Added in some paused at about 125lbs instead w drop set and some weighted dips. I feel this approach does much better than touch and go. FYI when I first started I was embarrassed to go lower than 135 for awhile even though I desperately needed to dial it down. Don’t be embarrassed guys ! I’m years deep with underdeveloped chest I’m not fking giving up I need my chest to match the rest of me .
Cheers for the shoutout big dog. This video is packed with value :)
Always happy to shout you out, plus you have the best weighted pushup demonstrations so referencing the OG setup was a must :)
Please do more of this series man for each muscle group.
yes please do!
agreed
YES!!!! DO IT for all (including calves and forearms)!
DO ITTT!! - Arnold maybe
Yes
Me, a Noble Natty, checking in to support and corroborate the huge strength standards
My man! Let's keeping raising natural standards 💯
@@AlexLeonidas cheers bro
@@BaldOmniMan Both of you are extremely inspirational, love your content!
Bald Omni-Man and Bald Leonidas. What a crossover
@@AlexLeonidas You typed this from mobile eh brother? Anyways much love man. Loving the video frequency.
Guys I cannot express how much weighted dips help. At the beginning of December I could bench 225 for 4 reps and I didn’t bench press at all until mid January and I hit 225 for 8 reps. During that period my body weight stayed the exact same and the only pressing movement I did for chest was weighted push ups and dips. Absolutely insane I recommend
SAME and this is exactly what i tell people. But they just say “ dips is for triceps” 🤦🏽♂️
Everybody is different. For me, dips didnt help out at all. Just going from bench press From 2 times a week to 1 Time a week with one set being 6 Sets and one between 12-15 reps
@@turo302 I didn’t believe those people but then the gyms closed for a month and it was my only option and man did it pay off. Was legit plateaued at 4 reps for a year and then doubled my reps in a month out of no where
Did you do them weighted or what was your approach exactly
Why does my sturnem hurt when I do them ?
I had open heart surgery which required my sternum to be cut in half. I've had trouble with bench press due to this but lately I've been using a machine and increasing the weight by pretty big sums with little issue. I am definitely seeing gains, so my philosophy right now is push ups followed by bench press machine at a heavy weight. It's amazing how fast my muscles are growing from this combination.
Good job man. Keep us updated 🙃
@@juniodias7079 thank you, will do for sure!
I salute your dedication. Stay safe chasing those gains though
from the jab?
@@Born2Punch no from a congenital defect
The numbers you chat are crazy man, very impressive. I see huge guys at the gym struggling to hit 180 pounds for 10 reps incline in the gym with good form. 225 is very rare.
I think Alex is an outlier phenom when it comes to natural strength. No one is putting up these numbers in commercial gyms or even on youtube. His poundages (& for reps) rival those of top powerlifters. 225 lbs OHP at 165 lbs 5'5?? come on..no one does that.
And just as you observed - the aesthetic / juicy guys in the gym are FAR OFF from alex's strength standard. In fact for an average height/weight guy - getting 225x5 or ramping up top triples of 245-255 then back off sets of even 185 lbs [done with various volume or cluster/rest pause] is MORE than enough to get massive pecs and aesthetics.
I just don't see how he comes up with these strength standard #'s sometimes...love the guy but his #'s sre literally beyond elite. Nippard can't hit them. Natural hypetrophy can't. bald omni man [who is on trt] hardly..etc..much less any natural (or even enhanced) in commercial gyms.
really don't see where ge gets these strength standards...
Exactly. If 225 on the bench means you’ve “completed” the novice stage, then 90% of my gym are novices
If you want above average chest you have to chase above average strength.
Even 225 for 3x10 is extremely difficult. A lot of people can rep 225 for 10…then 7…then 4-5 on the last set. The only people in my gym that hit it for all sets are the muscle monsters whose natty status is questionable.
i tryed today 175 after one month of only dungbell work and i did only one negative , dropped the weights side to side and the whole gym staring at meXD
Paused reps were a game changer for me. Bench was a big weak point of mine. However, after adding in paused benching a few years ago, my bench press, and my chest, have gone from strength to strength. I do 5/3/1, but in a pyramid fashion for bench, I simple do paused reps on my 2 deramping sets.
Can this same philosophy be applied to the squat as well?
How long do you pause for ??
@@TheAbear53 I most often stick to 3 seconds. If I'm at the lighter end of my training block I'll up it to 5 seconds, and on rare occasions even 7 seconds, but I'm not convinced such long pauses are necessary.
Sir how do you program your workouts?
Where can i learn to program my workouts better
@@tarlancharkasov1048 He uses concurrent training, and his method and routines are outlined in detail in his book, Naturally Enhanced.
My chest was very lacking so I widened my grip, did some push ups here and there, a little incline dumbbell work, and my pec grew like crazy in my 7 weeks of running 5/3/1
Same, wider grip and bringing the bar little higher on my chest works wonders! Only started doing that recently few weeks back and already noticing some gains. Chest has always been lacking for me.
What is 5 3 1?
I've only just started doing this same thing so I can't speak for the results yet, but I do feel really good and strong this way.
@@fijian0811 a programm
What's 5/3/1
I think RUclips has definitely changed what I consider a strong lifter, these days you see people in their teens benching 160kg at a bodyweight of like 90kg. I have trained for the last 3 years to hit my most recent pr, its only when I come to your channel that I get an idea of what can be done naturally after years and years of hard work and dedication, thankyou for your channel, its helped me ALOT
Most people that are on gear will never admit it and from someone who hasn't trained for a long period if time won't be able to tell what's actually achievable.
Appreciate the mention man 🙏
My pleasure man, cheers to more success & uplifting the fitness community 👊🏻
When I began pausing my ventures back in the late 90s, my progress went through the roof. I attribute this to consistency in form. At that time I did two things I began pausing, I spent more time learning to set up the bench, ID came obsessed with bar path, and I narrowed my grip substantially.. As Louis Simmons said a narrower grip will make your wide grip stronger but your wide grip will not do shit for your narrow grip. A narrow grip bench, also you may not be a strong will get all of your prime movers working together. You learn how to engage your lats, how to really drive with your triceps, and you’ll get a better range of motion in the chest without destroying your shoulders. Doing lots of bench presses with a shoulder width or slightly narrower grip will make your overall upper body much thicker and denser. Wide grip bench presses with flaring elbows does not utilize enough muscle, but in competition many guys widen the grip little bit in order to limit the range of motion. So you should always train with different grips But don’t ever spend a lot of time doing ultra wide grip bench presses with heavy weight. It’s a one-way ticket to an injury and it will not make you very strong if you do it frequently
Well put!!
My man's right. I did a weighted dip specialization phase, got up to 145lbs for 4 at 160 lbs. My chest development was good but with the OHP as my accessory my shoulders far outclassed my chest. Now with a bench phase I'm running it's blowing up my pecs. Bench press is really #1 in this regard.
Weighted Dips + weighted Push-up really raised my chest, but Bench-press is the real real bodybuiling exercise for chest
I gotta rely on dips and incline bench for chest. Flat bench just feels uncomfy af for me
@@copeenthuisiast5453 then get better form
@@copeenthuisiast5453 same too much stress on my shoulders. Dips and incline dumbell feels great
Now we need a whole series on every body part! Next up should be shoulders 👀🤝
Yeha, this is spot on for nattys. Alex on point as usual.
Exactly what we need in this industry! Honesty and hard working natural athletes! SUBSCRIBED! 💪🏻
One of the very best channels on you tube.
Your channel has stood the test of time, one of the realest to ever do it
Amazing. I Hit the 225 bench and started looking for *optimal* excercises instead of keeping on doing what got me the original progress. So much love and respect for the advise and inspiration!
agreed! Great inspiration here 💯
Alex please do more videos focused on body parts like this one I loved it!
Glad you enjoyed it brother! More like these on the way.
This video 100% supports my current body and my goals for this year. My pressing is comparatively weaker than lower body or upper pull, and my chest and shoulders don't look as developed as my back or legs. As a result, my main strength goal for this year is increasing pressing strength
Weighted dips are one of my favorite movements and I heavily credit them with helping increase both my bench and pec size. No matter my programming at a given time, a weighted dip is gonna be in there. I've found that switching between bars and rings is also a great way to keep things interesting and progressing, since the instability of the rings forces me to cut the weight way back while getting a better stretch, whereas bar dips let me move some more serious weight
It's the king of upper body. It works on your lats too, which is why it focuses centrally less on the chest. That's why you can use more weight on it. Plus you cant k*ll yourself with it by accident (neck).
@@RJ-is9ko that IS the reason i prefer Dips and weighted Push-up 🤣
Luv it man! Forever representing the UK! Click clack bang!!!
Great video! Chest development made uncomplicated without “fancy” exercises
Yess straight to the point
Hey bro could you make a video on exercises that will carry over to weighted dips and pull ups?. Loving the series keep up the good work man.
Would love to see that video from him! Hopefully he sees this comment
Weighted push-up and Unilateral pull down
Increasing my my bench to 100kg+ has made upper body grow significantly!! Shoulders,chest,triceps+lats!
Hey Alex I started to do pause Bench and it really humbled me! You can get more out of less weight and it reduces injuries. Amazing exercise.
Best way to bench!!
Is it a good way to increase numbers?
@@prodbypjay7148 Harder variations will always increase strength for your base movement. So yes, paused reps for any compound movement will give you bigger numbers for your regular reps.
@@CrowandRaven will include those for sure
Pausing at the bottom of pushups helped me a lot too!
One of the very few people I can imagine is actually natural. Awesome video. Subscribed.
If you want NON-RUBBISH NO-BS content, this dude is definitely the guy! #RESPECT
So incredibly thankful for your content.
I'm thankful for your support.
This guy is a pro at his work
I appreciate that man.
Jeff Nippards Chest Hypertrophy program is pretty much exactly what is said here. Great information from 2 very knowledgeable individuals 👍
Rep PR’s are the shit. I have a chart on my room, every 5kg jump from 60-130kg, ever. Once a fortnight I’ll run an AMRAP on one I’ve not done in a while and try and beat my last one. Do the same for OHP for 2.5kg’s and Squats + Dead for 10kg’s
Also found OHP to be a big chest booster. Big OHP mean stronger shoulders and triceps. Stronger shoulders and triceps mean more strength in the bottom and the middle. Stronger at weak points means bigger weights for same reps. That means more eccentric overload on the reps. OHP specialisation has indirectly grown my chest like crazy.
That's what's up and well said at the end for getting stronger shoulders and tris which inevitably help the long term overload/correcting weaknesses!
I'm currently on a self-imposed 30 day chest challenge and on day 11. The video encourages me do more work with the bench press and to include more versions of dumb bell chest exercises. My goal is to increase my upper chest muscles to match with the lower chest muscles which look pretty good. Thanks for sharing---keep them coming!
Glad you mentioned sternum pain. I can bunch 275 (or more I haven't done it in a bit), but I need 70 lbs assistance on dips to do 10 without horrible pain. I've been doing assisted a few times a week and hopefully I can build back up to unassisted and then weighted
Finally someone is talking about Matt Vena ! The guy is a beast and full with useful knowledge
Alex, you have always been my favorite. Thank you for your existance.
Thank you Kyle!
Looking good bro, keeping it real out there too
I love to see how connected the natty fitness industry is, I was already really extremely happy when I saw Natural Hypertrophy and Bald Omni-Man on your channel, but seeing you reference Matt Vena? I love it
i'm pretty much a novice and i'm training with calinsthenics but i've noticed that since i've incorporated some set of incline push-ups (with a very close grip, almost diamonds) my pecs are looking fuller, and also on the first times that i was doing the exercise i had DOMS like crazy only to the upper chest.
Nicee, there's always something new to learn
6:16 LMAO the smile killed me 🤣😂
Could listen to you for hours mate....talk so much sense and the proof is in the results
The BEST thing I ever did for my chest was add powerlifting style pauses to the negative of the bench. I realized I was much stronger from quick reps, but this was NOT due to having strong pecs. Once I started pausing, my chest had no choice but to be the most activated muscle
interesting, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the video!Incredibly talented dude!
DUDE!! I absolutely LOVE the quality of these videos man! Good content and advice as always!! Any tips for shoulder/long head of the bicep pain while bench pressing? Thank you again bro, never stop making these videos, so so so so helpful!
Make sure that your scapula is retracted. Also if you keep having bicep pain try a neutral grip
Thanks for the great content! I’m saving this as a favorite and definitely buying the rings! Subscribed to Vena now too. Big up!
great video as always, each video always has so much quality in it good shit bro
Strong at the basics, that’s such a huge statement too.
Love the emphasis on chasing bench strength to get gains man. I've been training for around 5-6 years now - chasing the next bench PR has been amazing for my chest development. Current PR is 375x3 and I can safely say I have some zonkers attached to my front end now 😂 Hoping to hit the 405 soon just like you man!
You are strong! Keep at it 💪
@@johannes01 thanks man!
@@OnePunchSiana 🔥💪
Strong as shit bro, hope to be up there in the next 5 years !
You being one of the only guys talking about long term goals is very respectable. Most RUclipsrs try to push short term gains
I appreciate that man! Always try to keep it real with everyone, including the high standards.
lets go alex uploaded at 12am on a school night again
5pm for me 👍
keep these types of vids going for each muscle group bro, been learning too much from your channel I gotta take notes every time haha
This ties in well with GVS's new video. Good timing bro.
The bench press has a place in every chest workout (w/ some exceptions), but my personal favorite way to hit the chest is using cables to get a better angle w/ different variations while keeping constant tension better than free weights throughout the ROM.
And agree that push-ups are the gold standard to use both as a warmup & as a VERY effective way to make some serious gains either bodyweight or weighted (as appropriate).
From a fellow “noble natty” 💪
nice fluff comment
@@burritodog3634 Is that your cat in your photo? My kids have been begging us to get one, but no luck convincing the wife just yet…..
Some horizontal press is necessary 100% whether it be bench press, dips, or pushups.
love it. just straight truth. good content man. keep it up.
Return of the AVIAN STRETCH
i love matt viena, happy to see him in this video
Im from Germany and in really love your Videos.
Have learned alot. Thx
I NEED MORE LIKE THESE! Back or Arms philosophy next?
He already made many videos about it. For back at least total 315 lb pullup (including bw), cheat rows, rack pulls, shrugs…. For biceps he suggests preacher and incline curls for the stretch reflex
Loved it! Consistency is key like you always say!!!!
Hey man. I've been watching you for quite some time and I know your content it's based on muscle hypertrophy, but do you have any experience in training for posture, and mobility, or how to treat kyphosis or any kind of this stuff? Or does your content may apply to what I said , in any fashion? Anyway, love your content! Keep it up!
Check out the Squat University channel. It’s awesome. The guy who runs it is a physical therapist.
@@domepiece11 Thanks man, definetely check it out!
Hey bro,So iam 15 years old,and I want to get strong and muscular.Currently doing PPL.Do you think my push day is alright?It's Bench Press>Weighted Dips>OHP>Weighted Deficit Pushups on handles and then some accessories.Will doing Dips after benching affect them?
THANKS
If I could do only one movement it would be weighted dips. It suits my anthropometry better than bench, and I agree the weighted stretch is so fkn key 🔑 also why I’m a fan of the weighted deficit push-ups as well, and also do mine on the boxes with feet on bench. Rings do provide e amazing variations too. Another reason I neglect flat benching more than I’d like to actually flat is that I have a great sturdy multi-angle bench but that fkn gap I didn’t think ahead about when I got it as I hadn’t owned a bench of my very own til that point, drives me crazy when flat benching lol, the low incline setting is nice tho and rock solid on it. I’m inclined (no pun 🧐) to agree however that weighted decline push-ups are prolly better overall and are highly underrated just like the flat version. I also tend to use my boxes to do feet elevated weighted pikes for OHP (working on getting my HSPU back in order at the moment), and def less setup time there when doing full body…the nice thing about the weighted cali’s too on the chest work is the full scapular freedom it provides and like you said it’s just so easy to get elbow positioning right, and imho easier to direct tension into the muscles via mind-muscle connection, tho I’m sure this is also tied in with the tighter positioning as well. Great video, has me wanting to barbell bench more tho haha
Shout out to Matt Vena. Been digging his content 💪🏽
Great video, what collars do you use for your olympic dumbbells?
Oso collars! Best in the game
@@AlexLeonidas Thank you brotha.
Awesome video. Waiting for the updated big legs version
“Weighted stretch bro” *tears pec* had me dying lol
One of best changes I made was to pause bench. Not only did I improve I’ve yet to get an injury and I used to always injure my pecs from touch and go
Exactly what I needed! Thank you man
He always cares about us!
Love the confidence now bro 🤛
I died laughing imagining super jacked birds, no more chicken legs
this should be a series and plz make next one about hamstrings
I think you look awesome with the shaved 🪒 head & the beard! 🙏 thanks for the content!
I’ve been waiting for this, loved your OHP and Pull up standards videos for shoulders and back and this has really similar energy
Also love his energy 💪
Your videos are sick bro
Love your content bro. Keep it up natty king🤙
Ah, I see you've been hit by the Matt Vena algorythm too. There must be something to those short videos. The guy is popping
I think the Spoto press was the game changer for me. Something about stopping a few inches off my chest and pressing without the stop on the chest completely changed the exercise for me.
It took the stress off my shoulders and transferred it onto my pecs.
I do not bodybuild or care about growing my chest, but I like learning about all things training. I've stopped doing dips because of the pain in my sternum that came later in my life; I actually didn't realize it was such a common occurrence until this video. I never looked it up, just thought I was getting old. I do hope to get back into my dip game, though. Thank you for the great content.
Were you doing only bodyweight dips?
@@zezeti2246 I’m good now. Thanks for the concern even a year later.
Alex can you do a video on ramping and how heavy do the warmups have to be to count as straight sets? Geoffrey Verity Schofield says that any weight over 50% of your Rep max should be counted but that seems super low if my bench 5RM is 225 and 115lbs is considering a working set.
This all makes perfect sense!Bench is getting stronger 💪🏽will work towards this progression each week
Hell yeah Jake 💪
Increase paused bench = chest gainz
he knows:)
God, I love weighted dips so bad man. They are such a great way to put mass on your chest, triceps and upper back. I didn't even start doing them with that intention, but 2 years later and I feel like they've brought out a whole different shape to me.
Personally I'm lower body dominant. I can slack off from legs for a week or two, hit them one session hard and still make gains. I'm 4 months into my 4th return to the gym journey, and my upper body has always, ALWAYS! been slower to grow and gain size and strength. No wonder, I use my legs everyday, my upper body I might lift a piece of toast alone on an off day. And I love leg work outs, All my best lifts are with my legs.
Since I started prioritizing push up volume work everyday, minimum 3 sets usually max 6 sprinkled throughout my day anywhere from 3 to 1 RIR, the strength, size and muscle fibre engagement generally has blown up. The goal is not to beast myself on any set, just practice strict form, grease the groove, and activate the muscular/neural pathways. So I feel good for doing it, not bad I'm not stronger yet.
Want a bigger chest/arms/biceps/triceps/shoulders? Make the push up and all it's variants your b*tch. Slow controlled, fast, 1 arm, incline, deficit. Say to yourself "Minimum three sets a day to just before failure/1 set to form failure" you WILL blow up. On top of your regular program of course.
One of your best videos! 💪😎❤
Hey Alex, what is your opinion on the new Shadow Of Intent album? Also, what rings do you use? Solid video!
Shadow of Intent never ceases to amaze me!! Rings are from Gonex, enjoy brother
man i really struggle with my shoulders and pecs... i nees help! i'm doing 5x5 stronglifts and i'm always failing with those two pressing movements...
Thank you so much alex. This Is the video my chest needed. Much love
Weighted Dips and DB Benching with feet up have been my go to for bench assistance. Can't wait to add the larson press, at about 280lb max right now with a goal of getting to 315lbs by the end of this year.
Great combination man!!
You might get it quicker brother , 6months im telling you
@@kryptonianstrength8461 6months would be awesome, really dialing in my nutrition and bulking up like Alex says to.
Great video. Too many "influencers" out there discredit the basics thinking they have reinvented the wheel. Then sell their way as "the way".
Hey, I’m somebody who really values and needs to grow my upper chest. I’d like to focus on progressively overloading my incline bench press at the beginning of every push session, and my secondary presses will be ones that hit my mid and lower pecs such as dips etc. Do you think this makes sense and is a smart way to get a large upper chest while still making some gains on the rest of the chest?
I followed your nucleus overloading video! Now I'm on 100kg so I'll be following this too.
That goes way back, OG! Honored to have been helpful for all this time.
Wait so I should be doing 3x10 flat bench, 3x10 low incline, 3x10 dips/ deficit stretch motion, and 3x10 fly motion? 12 sets at 2x a week I think 24 sets per week is approaching max recoverable volume but not too bad while bulking and giving 72 hours recovery in between chest sessions.
Correct! You'll get SWOLE AF with this template.
@@AlexLeonidas God bless dude. One of the top RUclips channels for intelligent programming. You'll be at 500k in no time. 👍
Great video as usual man, would you recommend pausing on close grip bench also?
0:45 based Alexander
As a person who struggles to keep up with videos in general, I’d really appreciate it if you add a recap at the end of the video
When I started lifting awhile ago my chest was just rib cage and asymmetrical at that. Got up to maybe top single of 215lbs but then I switched to a wide grip dropped me way down to like 135 touch and go. Everything I train usually I can tell I had a good workout but chest is always like meh.
Added in some paused at about 125lbs instead w drop set and some weighted dips. I feel this approach does much better than touch and go. FYI when I first started I was embarrassed to go lower than 135 for awhile even though I desperately needed to dial it down. Don’t be embarrassed guys !
I’m years deep with underdeveloped chest I’m not fking giving up I need my chest to match the rest of me .
How is it going?
Hey Alex what’s your opinion on progressing with this advice using a smith machine?
For me, sprinkling in sets of push-ups until failure throughout the week makes a huge difference.
Pushups are the truth! Especially with harder variations and going weighted.
Thats what makes dumbbell presses great--the stretch youre afforded
taking notes 🙏